5 Palestinians Killed After Israeli Airstrike In Gaza

GAZA CITY, GAZA STRIP - An Israeli airstrike killed five Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. It was the deadliest attack against the coastal strip in months.

The Israeli military said in a statement that the men were about to launch a rocket attack against southern Israeli communities when they were struck. Palestinian hospital officials confirmed that the five dead were militants.

Militant groups identified the men as members of the Islamic Jihad and Popular Resistance Committees.

Israel has for years routinely targeted rocket launchers from Gaza, but such incidents have been scaled back dramatically in the two years since the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza concluded.

The Hamas Islamist group, which dominates the Gaza Strip while the rival Palestinian Authority governs the West Bank, says that it has tried to curb rocket fire directed at Israel but that smaller groups continue to carry out such attacks.